By Allen                                               H.B. No. 878
         77R4503 GWK-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the offenses of criminal trespass and theft of service
 1-3     at a hotel.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1. Chapter 30, Penal Code, is amended by adding
 1-6     Section 30.051 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 30.051.  CRIMINAL TRESPASS AT HOTEL. (a)  In this
 1-8     section:
 1-9                 (1)  "Agreement" means an agreement for the occupancy
1-10     of a hotel room for less than 30 days.  The term includes an oral
1-11     lease, concession, permit, right of access, license, or contract.
1-12                 (2)  "Hotel" has the meaning assigned by Section
1-13     156.001, Tax Code.
1-14                 (3)  "Hotel staff" means someone with apparent
1-15     authority to act for the owner of the hotel.
1-16                 (4)  "Notice" means a communication that complies with
1-17     Subsection (b).
1-18           (b)  Notice under this section must:
1-19                 (1)  be printed in bold letters of at least 16-point
1-20     type;
1-21                 (2)  be made by the owner of a hotel or hotel staff;
1-22                 (3)  be posted at a prominent place in the hotel room,
1-23     posted on the hotel room door, or placed under the hotel room door;
1-24                 (4)  set out the time at which the communication was
 2-1     posted or was placed under the door; and
 2-2                 (5)  state the following:
 2-3                 NOTICE OF POTENTIAL CRIMINAL TRESPASS.  Our
 2-4           records reflect that you have remained in this room
 2-5           without payment in full beyond the date and checkout
 2-6           time in your agreement with us. This is a notice under
 2-7           Section 30.051, Penal Code.  Under Section 30.051, an
 2-8           occupant of a hotel room who remains in a hotel room
 2-9           after the date and checkout time and refuses the
2-10           request of the owner of the hotel or hotel staff to
2-11           permit the owner or staff to enter the room, who has
2-12           not paid in full for the right to remain in the room,
2-13           and who fails to depart the room by the next checkout
2-14           time or 12 hours after the time on this notice,
2-15           whichever is later, is in violation of the criminal
2-16           trespass at hotels statute.  Failure to timely depart
2-17           may result in the filing of criminal trespass charges. 
2-18           (c)  A person commits an offense if the person:
2-19                 (1)  remains in a hotel room after the checkout time
2-20     stated in the agreement and refuses the request of the owner of the
2-21     hotel or hotel staff to permit the owner or staff to enter the
2-22     room;
2-23                 (2)  is provided notice but fails to depart by the next
2-24     checkout time or 12 hours after the time set out on the notice,
2-25     whichever is later; and
2-26                 (3)  has not paid in full for the right to remain in
2-27     the room.
 3-1           (d)  It is not a defense to prosecution under this section
 3-2     that the defendant purports to have an oral agreement, including an
 3-3     oral lease, concession, permit, right of access, license, or
 3-4     contract, to extend the checkout time.
 3-5           (e)  An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor,
 3-6     unless the actor carries a deadly weapon on or about the actor's
 3-7     person during the commission of the offense, in which event the
 3-8     offense is a Class A misdemeanor.
 3-9           SECTION 2. Section 31.04, Penal Code, is amended by amending
3-10     Subsection (a) and by adding Subsection (g) to read as follows:
3-11           (a)  A person commits theft of service if, with intent to
3-12     avoid payment for service that he knows is provided only for
3-13     compensation:
3-14                 (1)  he intentionally or knowingly secures performance
3-15     of the service by deception, threat, or false token;
3-16                 (2)  having control over the disposition of services of
3-17     another to which he is not entitled, he intentionally or knowingly
3-18     diverts the other's services to his own benefit or to the benefit
3-19     of another not entitled to them; [or]
3-20                 (3)  having control of personal property under a
3-21     written rental agreement, he holds the property beyond the
3-22     expiration of the rental period without the effective consent of
3-23     the owner of the property, thereby depriving the owner of the
3-24     property of its use in further rentals; or
3-25                 (4)  having control of a hotel room under an agreement
3-26     to occupy the room for a period of less than 30 days, he fails to
3-27     provide full compensation for the period during which he:
 4-1                       (A)  occupied the room; or
 4-2                       (B)  agreed to occupy the room.
 4-3           (g)  For the purposes of Subsection (a)(4), "hotel" has the
 4-4     meaning assigned by Section 156.001, Tax Code.
 4-5           SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.